Howie Hawkins, the Green Party candidate for Governor, declared “mission accomplished” tonight as his vote total surpassed the 50,000 votes needed to maintain a ballot line for the Green Party in New York.

Hawkins successfully regained ballot status for the Greens in 2010 after they lost it in the 2002 election. In 2014, Hawkins won almost 5% of the vote, the highest vote total for an independent left party candidate for governor in New York history and the highest percentage since 1920. Today’s accomplishment is the first time that one candidate has won a ballot line for a third party for three consecutive gubernatorial elections in New York history.

“We have secured a Green Party ballot line in New York state for three consecutive elections by running our own candidates instead of running a major party candidate on our line. That’s a significant achievement in a system designed to create so-called third parties that merely function as extra ballot lines for the Democratic and Republican parties,” said Hawkins.

“But it’s too bad that corporate media gave Cuomo a free ride,” Hawkins continued. “They excluded the Greens from the news narrative of the primary and general elections. The Green alternatives to Cuomo’s terrible education, fiscal, transit, housing, and energy policies were not reported. Cuomo’s record was not subject to public debates because the corporate media succumbed to Cuomo’s dictates on debates. New York’s voters are the losers. They weren’t informed of all their options.”

Hawkins said that the Greens will now focus on organizing movements to push state government to adopt the popular demands the Greens campaigned for, including the New York Health Act for single-payer health care, fully-funding public schools, closing pro-developer loopholes in the expiring rent laws, tuition-free public college, and criminal justice and election reforms.

“The Greens will focus on passing the New York Off Fossil Fuels Act with the same intensity we put into winning the fracking ban in 2014,” Hawkins said. The NY OFF Act would block all new fracked-gas pipelines and power plants and build out a 100% clean energy system by 2030.

“The IPCC says we have 12 years left for a worldwide emergency mobilization to avoid climate collapse. We have already wasted 4 years since the Paris accord. The prognosis is bleak under either Democrats or Republicans,” said Green comptroller candidate Mark Dunlea.

“Our electoral efforts will now shift to local town, city and county races, where we can win more offices because it is harder for the pay-to-play money going to the Democrats and Republicans to beat local candidates who can go door-to-door to talk to voters,” Hawkins said.